One of the most important first steps in acquiring funding, of course, is to know all the potential sources of funding for research in science:

National Science Foundation (NSF)
Office of Naval Research (ONR)
Department of Energy (DOE)
Department of Education (DOEd)
National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
National Security Agency (NSA)
Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)
Army Research Office (ARO)
Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
NASA WVU
USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

The sources of funding for medical research are also vast

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
American Medical Association (AMA)
Arnold P. Gold Foundation
Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
AstraZeneca Medical Education Research Grants
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Increasing number of private funding sources for science:

NY Times Sunday, March 15, 2014: “Billionaires With Big Ideas Are Privatizing American Science,” William J. Broad

Moore Foundation
Simons
Gates
Ellison
Brin
Koch
Bezos

Scientists must investigate various programs to find a potential match

1. What projects are already funded?

There can’t be too much overlap of your proposed work with an existing program

2. What is the typical range of funding offered by the program?

You should have some idea of the typical funding range offered by the program, because your proposal can be dismissed outright if your budget requests are too extravagant

3. What are the stated program goals of the funding agency?

Make sure that your research goals can be, and are, written so as to coincide as closely as possible with the stated goals of the funding agency and the specific program!

The limited pot of research funds worldwide means competition is fierce.

• Academics’ careers are strongly linked to their success in publishing and funding applications
  • Unfortunately, rejection rates are high in both categories**

• Currently, more men submit grant applications than women (~66%)

• Commonly, reviews of proposals are completed ‘blind’
  • reviewers cannot know who wrote application

• A study by Kolev et al. 2019 found that women were still 16% less likely to get funded
  • data from 6700 Gates foundations Global Challenges application in 2017

• Gender bias is not due to specific subject or field of science

• Gender bias is not due to experience or number of publications
  • average male applicant is more senior w/ more publications, reflecting the history of gender bias in science
  • women still have top rated publications (which matters)

• Language matters. Men tended to use more ‘broad’ words while women used ‘narrow’ words
  • word choice related to communication styles
  • style vs substance
  • mattered more when males where reviewers!!

• Necessary fix the leadership gap and salary gap that women scientists currently face
  • remember how success is determined in academia

• Each step up the ladder of the scientific research system sees a drop in female participation until, at the highest echelons of scientific research and decision-making, there are very few women left
  • aka ‘leaky pipeline’

Women slightly outnumber men pursuing bachelor’s and master’s degrees in science (53%), but their numbers drop off abruptly at PhD level

The discrepancy widens at the researcher level, with men now representing 72% of the global pool

• Intellectual Merit
  • potential for the proposed activity to advance knowledge and understanding within field or across fields?
  • are proposed activities creative, original, or potentially transformative concepts?
  • is the plan for carrying out the proposed activities well-reasoned, well-organized, and based on a sound rationale?
  • how well qualified is the individual or team to conduct the proposed activities?
  • are there adequate resources available to the PI?

• Broader Impacts
  • potential for a research project to benefit society or advance desired societal outcomes
  • growing in importance of National Science Foundation
  • e.g. building STEM talent or engaging wider audiences

• Personal Statement to address how your activities address the Intellectual Merit & Broader